The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. announced comparable store sales for the four weeks ended Feb. 25 increased 0.7 percent. Total sales increased 0.9 percent to $199.4 million for the four weeks compared with $197.7 million for the prior year period.
“We are pleased with our February sales results,” said Tony Buccina, vice chairman & president of merchandising. “Our best performing businesses were shoes; hard home; furniture; ladies’ better sportswear; and cosmetics, especially in fragrances, which did very well for Valentine’s Day. Favorable customer response to bright, bold colors in ladies’ shoes and handbags resulted in strong sales. The poorest performing category was coats. We successfully moved through product and are pleased with our inventory position at the end of February. As a reminder, last year’s February sales included Community Day, which is an important promotional event for our Company and our communities; this year the event will occur in April.”
Keith Plowman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Our excess borrowing capacity under our credit facility was approximately $453 million at the end of February.”
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., with corporate headquarters in York, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee, WI, operates 272 department stores in 23 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers nameplates and, in the Detroit, Michigan area, under the Parisian nameplate.
